DeepSeek has reached $1 billion in annualized recurring revenue, more than doubling its growth from less than $500 million a few months ago. The Chinese AI startup is finalizing a $7.5 billion funding round at a $75 billion valuation, which is expected to close by the end of October. Chief Executive Liang Wenfeng told investors that customer demand remains strong and the company's API business maintained a gross margin of 82.9% through July, even after prices were increased by 2.3 to 4.5 times.

To manage hardware shortages, the firm allocates 70% of its compute capacity to training and uses Nvidia gaming GPUs for inference on smaller models. DeepSeek also recently appointed its first chief financial officer, Yan Wentao, a former partner at Hillhouse Capital, as it prepares for a potential initial public offering on the STAR Market. The company recently held high-security investor meetings in Beijing and Hangzhou where attendees were required to surrender all electronic devices.